Tuesday 22 March 2011

120 The Savages: Part Two

EPISODE: The Savages: Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 120
STORY NUMBER: 026
TRANSMITTED: 04 June 1966
WRITER: Ian Stuart Black
DIRECTOR: Christopher Barry
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
FORMAT: CD: Doctor Who: The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1965-1966) No. 2
TELESNAPS: The Savages: Part Two

The Savage doesn't want to hurt Dodo but moves on outside where he's found by other Savages. Dodo is seized by the scientist who believe she's here for the transference process that Nanina has undergone, but before she can be subjected to it she's rescued by Captain Edal. Nanina has been overexposed to the process and the scientists make a note on her files. Going to the Tardis on the pretext of fetching his notes on Time Travel the Doctor finds the injured Savage Dodo saw earlier: He has worked out the Elders are draining the life energy from the Savages. He's taken back to the city by Edal while Steven & Dodo fall into the hands of the Savages who tell them what is happening. They are afraid to oppose the Elders due to their light guns. Jano and the Doctor argue about what the Elders are doing. The Doctor vows to oppose the elders so Jano sends him to the scientists who subject him to the transference process to drain his life force.

I don't think you had to be a genius to see that it was the Savages who were the source of the energy the Elders were using. This episode merely confirms it, but having the process used on the Doctor is one of the more horrifying things the program has done so far.

Ian Stuart Black was an experienced television script writer who went and volunteered to write for Doctor Who. Apparently his children refused to believe he was a proper television writer until he had written for the program. He approached John Wiles and Donald Tosh who asked him for a storyline. In the meantime Wiles & Tosh resigned but the incoming team of Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davies were impressed enough with what Black delivered to consider scrapping the Gunfighters to get the Savages, then known as The White Savages, produced sooner.

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